Alan Wood

Q: Is this is a good card for my 2008 Mac Pro?

My originial Nvidia card from my 3,1 early 2008 Mac Pro conked out. Thank God it was only the video card and not a logic board again which I have had replaced twice. With Applecare expired that would have been horrible news.

 

Anyway, not looking for the baddest or best since not a big gamer anymore. Looking to stay under $150 and also looking for a card that will be highly compatible without any major hassles.

 

Came across this one and wanted to ask advice here before I buy. It is $119.99 after $20 rebate. Is this a good card that will work out of the box? Haven't shopped for a video card in a long time so completely out of the loop.

 

EVGA SSC 01G-P4-3652-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-130-839&SortField=0&SummaryTy pe=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark= &IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 2:55 PM

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Q: Is this is a good card for my 2008 Mac Pro?

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  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Jul 18, 2013 10:21 AM in response to d00dbro
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Jul 18, 2013 10:21 AM in response to d00dbro

    I don't know where you read that you can't use startup keys, only that you don't get an early boot screen.

     

    I have read of sleep issue on MacRumors forum. You might ask and see, some send theirs to MacVidCards, some did their own.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Jul 18, 2013 12:35 PM in response to The hatter
    Level 10 (271,467 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 18, 2013 12:35 PM in response to The hatter

    You can use the shortcuts, but you won't see anything on the screen. I think that is what was meant.

  • by d00dbro,

    d00dbro d00dbro Jul 21, 2013 12:23 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Jul 21, 2013 12:23 AM in response to The hatter

    I don't remember where exactly, but a few posts on this site and/or random other ones said that you can't use startup keys. The sleep issue has been resolved, but I did a lot of things, so I don't know what fixed it. It's still possible that it's a hardware issue because I did get a boost cable for it (since it has an extra power input) instead of using the 4-pin power from the optical drives.

     

    So after what I've seen on my computer, I could recommend the GTX 650 Ti Boost from EVGA as a good low-mid-end GPU for a Mac Pro. The benchmarks for it are also pretty good, not that I care too much because I mainly wanted to get rid of my really noisy 2600 that could not run Lion+ decently for some reason and get something modern.

  • by rafano,

    rafano rafano Nov 27, 2013 10:20 AM in response to Alan Wood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 27, 2013 10:20 AM in response to Alan Wood

      Hi everybody,

     

      My Mac has the following specs:

     

      Nome modello:          Mac Pro

      Identificatore modello:          MacPro1,1

      Nome processore:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon

      Velocità processore:          2,66 GHz

      Numero di processori:          2

      Numero totale di nuclei:          4

      Cache L2 (per processore):          4 MB

      Memoria:          12 GB

      Velocità bus:          1,33 GHz

      Versione Boot ROM:          MP11.005C.B08

      Version SMC (sistema):          1.7f10

     

     

    May I mount a

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680?

    or what's the maximum that I can install on it?


    Thanks in advance,
    Rafano

     

     

    <Personal Information Edited by Host>

  • by d00dbro,

    d00dbro d00dbro Nov 29, 2013 11:04 AM in response to rafano
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Nov 29, 2013 11:04 AM in response to rafano

    Unfortunately, the Mac Pro 1,1 is more limited in what you can put in it, by software and (if I remember correctly) hardware. For one, you can't run Mountain Lion, which contains drivers for a lot of GPUs. The GTX 650 would not work, so I doubt a 680 would.

     

    Unless you want to only use it in Windows. Then... probably.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Nov 29, 2013 11:11 AM in response to rafano
    Level 9 (61,170 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 29, 2013 11:11 AM in response to rafano

    May I mount a

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680?

    or what's the maximum that I can install on it?

     

    The best bet for a Mac Pro 1,1 is the Apple-firmware 5770, about US$250. It runs in every model Mac Pro. Drivers are in 10.6.5 and all later versions. It has 512MB of VRAM and supports OpenCL.

     

    Genuine Apple cards and "Mac Edition" cards WILL show the bootup and Option-Boot screens, which some users find more predictable and convenient.

  • by d00dbro,

    d00dbro d00dbro Nov 30, 2013 1:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Nov 30, 2013 1:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Meh, my *takes a deep breath* EVGA NVIDIA GTX 650Ti Boost SC is much faster than that GPU and only cost me $170 after CA sales tax. But it doesn't display a boot screen. It's unfortunate that the Apple-branded GPUs are so expensive.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 1, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 9 (61,170 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 1, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    DPArt has corrected me, the Apple-firmware 5770 has 1GB of VRAM.

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